by Matt Krantz, USA TODAY

by Matt Krantz, USA TODAY

The tentative $13 billion settlement JPMorgan Chase has reportedly reached with the Justice Department for the bank's role in mortgage bond sales doesn't get the firm or its executives off the hook.

According to The New York Times, the settlement, if finalized, would still allow federal prosecutors to pursue a criminal inquiry of the bank, and JPMorgan would have to cooperate with any criminal investigations of former employees who helped create the mortgage investments.

If finalized, the settlement would be the government's biggest and highest-profile enforcement action in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

It's a major win for the Justice Department, "particularly since the deal only applies to the civil case. It also brings to account a major Wall Street player for the market crisis, something enforcement officials and the public have been looking for," says Thomas Gorman, a partner at Dorsey & Whitney law firm.

But it "leaves the bank seriously at risk because of the (potential) criminal charges," added Gorman, former senior counsel in the enforcement division of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Over the weekend, officials at JPMorgan and Justice declined comment on the case as details of the tentative settlement were reported by the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, the Times, Bloomberg News and others. All the reports cited anonymous sources familiar with the negotiations.

The deal reportedly includes a $4 billion settlement with the Federal Housing Finance Agency about the bank's mortgage-backed securities sales to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to more than one published report. The FHFA is Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's regulator. All told, $9 billion would be in fines and $4 billion in relief for homeowners struggling to make their payments, the Times reported.

Since mid-2010, the bank has paid close to $6 billion in fines and settlements. JPMorgan's total reserve for litigation and regulatory proceedings is now $23 billion. That number could rise $5.7 billion for possible future expenses and doesn't include $8 billion already paid, the bank said when it released its third-quarter earnings report this month.

Regulators continue to aggressively pursue the financial institutions for actions that contributed to the financial crisis, including the issuance of risky mortgages and the resale of those mortgages into securities that defaulted at high rates, costing investors billions of dollars in losses. Among the losers were Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which buy mortgages from banks, and bundle them into securities for sale to investors.